Covid-19: risk factors for severe disease and death.
As the covid-19 pandemic accelerates, governments are warning people at high risk to be particularly stringent in observing social distancing measures because if they become ill they are more likely to need critical care including ventilation, and to die.1 Most data on covid-19 are from China, and although most confirmed cases have been classified as mild or moderate, 14% are severe and 5% critical.2 Case fatality rates are difficult to assess with certainty but could be as high as 1%,3 4 which is much greater than seasonal influenza at about 0.1%.